PC-BSD® uses the GNOME Display Manager (GDM[1]) as its graphical login program. This program was chosen for its support of keyboard layouts, localizations, and accessibility.

Beginning with PC-BSD® 9.1, a GDM Configuration utility is available in Control Panel. Figure 8.5a shows the initial screen when you click on this icon in Control Panel or type pc-su pc-gdmconf at the command line. Note that this utility will prompt you for the administrative password.

Figure 8.5a: GDM Configuration Utility

For security reasons, PC-BSD® defaults to a login screen. This means that users are required to input their password before logging into the PC-BSD® system. If you are the only user on the PC-BSD® computer, always use the same window manager, and do not consider it a security risk for the system to automatically boot into that window manager, you can enable auto-login using the "Auto login" tab.

As seen in the example in Figure 8.5a, the "Enable auto login" box is unchecked by default. If you check the box, the "Auto login user" drop-down menu will be activated. Select the user account to automatically login as. You can also set a delay period (in seconds) to give time to cancel the auto-login, for example if you wish to log into a different desktop.

The "Remote login" tab, shown in Figure 8.5b, is used to configure XDMCP[2], a protocol that comes with Xorg and allows a connection to an X session from a remote system. Uncheck the "Enable XDMCP" box to enable this service and expose the configuration options. By default, XDMCP uses UDP port 177, allows one connection per host, and allows up to 16 simultaneous sessions.

NOTE: use extreme caution when enabling this option as it can make your system available to anyone over the network. If you need someone to access your PC-BSD® system to assist with troubleshooting, consider using Desktop Sharing instead, which allows you to send an invitation to connect. Always disable any type of remote login immediately after finishing your troubleshooting session.

Figure 8.3b: Configuring Remote Login

The "Misc" tab, shown in Figure 8.5c, is used to configure whether or not other computers are allowed to connect to your X server (GUI).

Figure 8.3c: Allowing X Connections

For security reasons, no connections are allowed by default. If you check the "Allow incoming TCP X connections", other computers in your network may have access to your GUI. Use extreme caution when enabling this option as it can make your system available to anyone over the network. If you are enabling this option for troubleshooting purposes, uncheck this box immediately after finishing your troubleshooting session.